higher and higher and higher
by bedriddens
Summary: There was something about this customer that Andou can't quite shake off. [andou/oc because i'M TRASH]
**notes:** i was.. supposed to write an ot4 piece…,,,, but no… here I am…. Writing an OC fic plEASE save me from FUCKING hell. i HATE myself,,, i'm an Accomplished writer okay,,,,, MY WRITING HAVE WON AWARDS OKAY !

please keep that in mind while you're reading this because this is probably the lowest i have ever gone i'm so sorry HOWEVER ! it wasn't stated outright that kana and andou are rlly a thing so let me have this

but ok tho on a serious note im probably gonna write a kashigo or an ot4 piece soon…

* * *

There was something about this customer that Andou can't quite shake off.

She came at exactly twelve noon, and left after two hours. She would order the same things, and same drinks, and always come with a notepad, pens and a laptop and take notes about something from her laptop while eating something very sweet. She was so strict with this schedule that Kana and the others started to make sure that her seat by the corner would always be available at these times, which was a bit not good for business, but she _was_ a loyal customer who stuck with them even if they had such rough beginnings.

Andou thought she was pretty, in the rare moments he was out surveying the shop during the lunch rush. She was very pleasing to look at though, with her wavy black hair and tan skin, she also had a bit of a baby-faced which made her a bit cuter when she was frowning. However, what Andou thought was really precious and really amazing was her eyes.

It was plain brown, but it was clearer than anything and was the color of the earth. It had an intensity to it and was very focused which made her seem mature even though her other looks was intended with someone that was baby-faced. It was the only thing out of place in her face, but it wasn't a bad thing. (Caramel sometimes told Andou that the girl frightened her a bit whenever she was on her laptop, which was always. Andou could only smile gently at his close friend and try and calm her down.)

This customer was a foreigner though, or at least that's what Andou thought when he heard about this customer's accent from Kana. Paired with the accent and her tan skin, Andou thought that this customer was probably visiting.

(" _She was back again!_ " Kana told Andou when she was taking her lunch break. However Andou was still preparing the next batch of sweets to send out there but he was still listening to Kana though. "Oh Andou! You wouldn't quite believe that she spoke more than five words today! It was a bit weird to hear her talk in Japanese though. It was as if those words didn't belong in her mouth." Kana pondered about it some more before finally saying, "Oh and she also said to pay compliments to the baker!"

 _And no_ , even though Kana would insist it, Andou did not definitely almost trip on air!)

It wasn't like Andou had a crush. It was far from a crush! He was legit interested about the background of this customer and why out of a ton of shops out there, she picked this one to frequent almost everyday. She was also pretty, so it was obvious that Andou would always pick her out like a sore thumb.

("I don't know Andou." Makoto would always tell him during the times they would meet and talk about their shops, tone a bit teasing. "That sounds like a crush to me."

"It's not!" Andou would exclaim, flustered. "Don't go teasing me about this Maa-kun! I didn't exactly try and tease you about your huge crush on Ichigo back then!"

"Define not teasing." Makoto would roll his eyes, but Andou would always see a faint blush creeping on his childhood friend's neck.)

Kana finally took pity on him one day and forced Andou to go out and welcome his customers saying that she can make sweets too and can replicate Andou's work well. (Which wasn't a lie, there were times where Andou had to go out and he always places Kana in charge.)

Andou nervously grinned when met with Kana's stare and finally went out of his kitchen to be a waiter for the lunch rush. It was a bit scary to see Kana like this, so the best thing he could do would be to follow his old friend and actually go out there. Perhaps he'll see this loyal customer of his and give her his thanks.

Oh god, it's even stranger to see her in real life and not behind the mesh windows of his kitchen. He stares at her for a good minute (it's a wonder the customer doesn't notice him, but then he remembers that she's probably busy and focused on her laptop) and then absconds the fuck out with the intention of retreating and going back to his kitchen, but not until Kana, hands on her hips and looking really frightening as ever.

"What did I tell you, Sen-kun?" Kana asks in a sweetly syrupy voice and Andou shivers.

"I mean! I thought I'd be of more value here, rather than outside!"

"No can do!" Kana pushes Andou outside, "As the manager of this boss, you have to keep up with appearances on your customers! Now! Go! And! Talk! To! The! Girl!"

Kana slams the door shut, and the whole place probably has their eyes on him, and Andou hopes that the girl's eyes isn't focused on him. (A quick look at her tells Andou that she was't, making him sigh in relief.)

"Woah!" Caramel exclaims as she went out of hiding. "I didn't know Kana could be so scary -desu!"

"You and me both, Caramel." Andou mutters, and dusts himself. Alright, he'd go and talk to that customer now. Hopefully he won't mess it up.

* * *

He messes it up. At least in his opinion, he did.

Andou approaches the customer, his palms sweating and Caramel trying to give him words of encouragement. He balls up his fists, cutting crescents into his palms with his fingernails. It wasn't as if Andou was dreaming about this moment for the past few weeks, since this girl started being a regular. If he was being honest, he'd say that he's still a bit scared of approaching this girl, but this time is as good as any time, so he might as well!

"Hello! Good afternoon," He says as he offers his hand to the other. "I'm the one responsible for this shop and I'd like to tell you thank you for supporting us after the past rough month!"

The customer blinks up to him, probably in confusion, before she smiles softly at Andou, making him fluster a bit. "Oh no! It's my pleasure, actually. " She takes Andou's hand and shakes it firmly, and then gestures Andou to sit in front of her, which he does. "I quite like your shop, everyone's really great and nice. Especially your sweets! I'm not the type to like overly bitter things, I quite prefer overly sweet things, mind you, but your sweets are the _best_."

Andou's pretty sure that he's red in the face at this point, and can't seem to think straight at all, so he blurts out the most obvious thing ever; "You have an accent."

The other girl looks taken aback and then giggles, "Well you have glasses, Mister?" She says after she stops giggling, "I didn't really quite catch your name and it seems terrible for me to not know the name of the person who owns my favorite shop."

"It's Andou." Andou nervously grins, "How about you?"

"Juno Strome!" She flashes a smile at Andou. "And yes! It _is_ foreign. I'm just here for a tournament and all, and I'm getting ready for it while touring Japan."

"Oh! I do hope you're enjoying your time here in Japan, but you won't be staying here forever?" Andou inwardly winces at his creepy choice of word.

The girl laughs again, clear and bright. "Forever? Getting ahead of yourself there Mister Andou? At least buy me dinner first!" She giggles, "But I've been enjoying my stay and I'll probably stay here for some time before going back home, so don't you worry."

"Do you really have to tease me like that? I misspoke accidentally, Miss Strome." Andou frowns, "But, _please_ feel free to call me Andou, no Mister needed."

"You have to be ruthless with the teasing if you wanna survive where I come from!" She happily exclaims, "I'll call you Andou, if you'll call me Juno!"

"I can do that." Andou replies, smiling at her and he's probably hallucinating but Juno probably flustered for a bit. "But, tournament?"

"Tournament, indeed! I may not look like it but I'm quite a thinker and an observer!" Juno confirms, "I'm here for a chess tournament! I'm quite excited for it, but my opponents will be tough, so I'm watching all their matches." She holds up a notepad filled with numbers and letters, "That's why I'm always here. I need to have a steady stream of sugar if I want to have my brain still functioning."

"Oh! Don't worry, you definitely look like a thinker and an observer. You look so focused when you're doing these, that one of my friends was frightened by your stare." Andou chuckles, faintly remembering Caramel flying up to him in distress. His face falls down though, "But, if I can be honest, I'm a bit scared if you approve of these sweets though. My sweets they aren't-" He struggles a bit with his hands. "They can't be considered overly sweet as most of them are based on green tea or something else."

"Well!" Juno fiddles with her pen for a bit, "Normally I wouldn't stay here, because as you did say, it's kind of not sweet for me… But, I come back for the atmosphere?" Juno turns red for a bit, "I mean! It might sound weird but being here just, it gives me the feeling that I can do it you know?" She shyly smiles, "I'm also trying to break my dependency on sugar."

"That's-" Andou's a bit speechless. He's touched by the earnest words of the other and a bit flustered by the other's expression. "That's good to hear."

"You're welcome!" Juno fully smiles now, "You're shop is really the best."

* * *

" _Tell me!_ Sen-kun!" Kana pouts at Andou when he gets back from the chat he had with Juno."Tell me how it went! You looked like you had a nice time!"

"Nuh-uh Kana!" Andou tells her, "It's a secret! Though I can tell you her name though." Andou grins, "It's Juno."

"Ju-no." Kana says it out loud as if testing how it feels. "Sounds foreign."

"Well, she _is_ a foreigner."

"Sen-kun! Now you got me interested!"

"No! It's a secret and you have to leave! You still have classes tomorrow, you know." Andou just grins at her and closes the door before Kana can protest.

* * *

Well, every good thing has an ending, and Juno probably has a boyfriend.

Andou looks on from the mesh window, thankful that it's a working day so the lunch rush isn't that big so it can't really be called a lunch rush. There are only three customers inside the shop, a regular, Juno, and a boy with Juno.

Of course, he shouldn't assume that anything's happening with the boy and Juno, that's what Kana's reminding him after every five minutes or so, but he still can't help but feel that something's happening because Juno is so comfortable with the boy, laughing at all his jokes and rolling her eye at him, in a teasing way and it reminds him of Ichigo and Kashino and as he looks at Juno and the boy, he just feels intensely and strangely weird and-

 _Holy shit_.

Andou might have a terrible crush.

* * *

"Maa-kun, I have a crush and it's _killing me_."

Andou barges into his store, surprising most of the customers and most of the staff. (Especially Ichigo, her face red as a tomato as she processed Andou's words. Lemon's not blushing, but her face looks intrigued..)

Makoto only stares at him for half a second, looking bored as fuck, wiping his hands on the front of his pants, not caring about everyone that staring at them. "Well, it's about fucking time, congratulations Andou! You have a crush."

* * *

"Andou-kun has a crush on his customer?!" Ichigo, bless her sweet heart, exclaims as she serves Andou her famous Strawberry Tart. It's afterhours right now and all of them are just chilling and sitting on one of the store's tables. "That's great! And cute! And romantic!"

"I agree with Ichigo-senpai!" Lemon gushes, "That's super cute! Who's the lucky girl, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Her name is Juno, and apparently she has the _sweetest_ laugh ever, the nicest personality ever, the wittiest humor ever and the most _intense_ eyes Andou has ever seen." Makoto rolls his eyes, "It's actually not that great and is just bordering pitiful and disgusting now."

"Hey!" Andou protests, "To be fair I only said like, two of those things!"

"The other two were implied, you dummy!"

"Makoto! That's rude!" Ichigo, bless again her sweet heart, glares at Makoto. "Andou's here asking for our help and you're teasing him!"

"Thanks Ichigo…" Andou smiles at her, "I knew I could count on you!"

Ichigo gives Andou a thumbs up and Makoto just rolls his eyes at them.

"But, see… I think that Juno might have someone else?" Andou fiddles with his hands. "I mean, I'm not the type to worry about this but she's so- I'm so- I- I'm-" He sighs, "It's a bit hard to explain."

"Listen, Andou." Makoto finally says, "You're one of my closest friends. You've been with me through thick and thin, and I can really tell you that you're one of my greatest friends, and as your best friend, I'm obligated to tell you that anyone would be lucky to have you." Makoto pats him on the shoulder, and it's as awkward as it can get, "I'll always support you whatever decision you pick."

"Maa-kun…" Andou stares at Makoto for a few moments and it seems that it's a touching scenario between two childhood friends. That is until, the both of them cracks and laughs out loud, surprising Ichigo and Lemon.

"No, no." Makoto finally says after laughing, his hand still on Andou's shoulder. "I'm always here for you Andou. All of us are, so stop being scared and just ask her out."

Andou pats on Makoto's hand. "Yeah, I know Maa-kun. I know."

* * *

Andou goes out again after a week, begging Kana to take the lunch rush shift. She accepts, saying that Andou really needs to interact more with his customers and weekday lunch rushes aren't really rushes at all. (She did waggle her eyebrows at Andou once he was about to close the door and Andou just rolls his eyes.)

When Juno sees Andou approaching, her whole face lights up and she happily smiles at Andou and waves at him. She points toward the seat in front of her again and grins wider as Andou takes the seat in front of him.

"Andou! How are you? Are you doing well?" Juno grins at him, and Andou cuts crescents into his palms, he should not be getting cold feet!

"I'm doing well, thanks for asking." He nervously smiles at Juno. "How about you?"

Juno frowns. "Is there something wrong?"

"Nothing! Nothing is wrong, I'm just-" Andou takes a deep breath and puts his hands on the table, in an effort to calm himself down. "I'm okay."

"You don't look okay." Juno frowns deeper. "Listen Andou, it's a bit hard to lie to me since, well I _am_ a competitive chess player and it's important that I'm always keen to the other's senses so, can you just-" she touches Andou's hands, causing Andou to probably turn red. "Tell me what's going on? We've only met but I do love your cafe and I've heard from a friend that you can't exactly make sweets if you're sad."

"This friend of yours is very well-informed!" Andou could only say. He should not be focusing on Juno's hands on his, but he just can't. Her hands are calloused but at the same time it's weird that Andou thinks her hands are still soft.

"He is." Juno gently smiles, "He was the one who came with me here last week."

"Oh." Andou's heart slightly breaks, "Are you two... _together?_ "

Juno suddenly looks at him in the eyes, her expression is of a surprised one and Andou can see it clearly on her eyes. He's a bit scared since there might be a possibility that he can drown in the stare of the other and- _oh dear_ , he's in love.

Juno laughs out loud, but her hand still haven't left Andou's. "He is _very_ much taken and is very much my brother!" Juno giggles, making Andou sigh in relied and Juno raises an eyebrow at that. "Dating my brother would be kind of gross! Besides, I like someone else."

"Oh?" Andou can't help but ask.

"Yeah, _oh_." Juno rolls her eyes. "Did you ever stop to think why I visited your shop everyday? I mean- _I love your sweets_ , I really do since they give me energy, and I love the atmosphere, but- did you ever stop to think why I visited at the exact times everyday?"

Andou gulps, "No, not exactly."

"Well!" Juno happily grins. "I'll tell you!" She claps her arms and Andou mourns the loss of the warmth from Juno's hands. "It's because I can see you the most during the lunch rush!"

"Oh, that makes sense-" Andou's eyes widen. "Wait, what?!"

"Yeah! For some reason that mesh window is a tiny bit open and you always look around from there when it's the lunch rush so-" Juno faintly turns red, "I may have been coming here everyday for the same times just to see you."

"Oh." Andou turns bright red, and he's definitely sure that he's hearing the elderly people around them (and some of the staff) muttering 'young love' as they look upon them. "I mean! Oh."

"Yeah, oh…" Juno shyly says, "I'm sorry for creeping on you. You probably think that I'm weird."

That snaps Andou out of his trance. "No, I don't! I-" Andou takes a deep breath. "I keep that open and look around because of you." He admits, "I always like looking around for you, if that's not too weird."

"Oh." Juno says, a bit shocked. " _Oh_."

Andou nervously grins, "Well, now we know how we feel for each other. Want to go on a date with me?"

* * *

 **ending notes** : hey y'all do you think i should turn this into a series? like juno and andou's relationship? or like make a series on where all of them are in middle school again and juno just recently transferred alongside ichigo? because ? i'm? crying?

i'm tentatively putting it on complete? but tell me if you want more.. because this was super fun to write tbh


End file.
